1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an automatic ice maker which supplies ice pieces to a storage receptacle during an ice harvesting cycle and, more specifically, to a depth sensor for the ice maker which is adjustable to inactivate the ice maker at more than one level of ice pieces in the receptacle.
2. Description of Related Art
Automatic ice makers typically have a feeler or bail arm for activating an ice level sensing switch whenever a storage bin or receptacle becomes full of ice pieces. The bail arm is raised after ice pieces have been ejected from the ice maker following each ice making cycle and lowered after the ice pieces have been received in the storage receptacle. When the ice pieces fill the storage receptacle to a predetermined level, the bail arm is prevented by the accumulated ice pieces from returning to its position in which the ice level sensing switch is closed to initiate another ice harvesting cycle. When enough of the ice pieces are removed so that the ice pieces no longer fill the storage receptacle to the predetermined level, the bail arm returns to its position where the ice level sensing switch initiates an ice harvesting cycle. In this manner, the ice pieces in the storage receptacle are maintained at the predetermined level.
Usage of ice pieces often varies from a high level during high consumption times to a low level at low consumption times. If the predetermined level of ice pieces in the storage receptacle is set to provide an adequate supply of ice pieces during high consumption times, only a top portion of the ice pieces in the receptacle is used during low consumption times. The lower portion of ice pieces may remain in the storage receptacle for an extended period of time and become stale. If the predetermined level of ice pieces in the storage receptacle is set to provide an adequate supply of ice pieces during low consumption times, there will not be an adequate supply of the ice pieces in the receptacle during high consumption times. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an automatic ice maker which provides the ice pieces at different predetermined levels within the storage receptacle. Furthermore, there is a need for the ice maker to be easily adjustable between the levels and relatively inexpensive to produce.